Category: Uncategorized

This weekend, dear husband and I traveled to Washington, D.C. His sister lives near there and we visited with family and celebrated a birthday.  The weather was beautiful and so much nicer than it was at home in Buffalo.   I had hoped that a lot of my weekend would be spent outdoors and I wasn’t disappointed.

On Friday, we set out in the morning to take a walking tour of the Embassies on Massachusetts Avenue.  There were about 15 people on the tour and it was informative and relaxing.  I was a little antsy when our guide would stop on the sidewalk and start showing us pictures from his binder.  Some of the stories were interesting, but I was hoping for more information about the Embassies themselves.  It’s was our lucky day when we were able to meet the Ambassador from Botswana.   We were walking by and the driver of the Ambassador had to ask us to move out of the driveway as he was preparing to leave with him in a few minutes.  We decided to wait and take paparazzi photos!  David Nelson was very gracious when he made his way to the car.

He shook some hands and welcomed us to take a tour of the inside of the Embassy. What a treat!  I learned that when you enter an Embassy you are technically in that actual country, with their laws and rules.  I never thought I would go to Botswana, and now I did.

After our tour we had a quick lunch and made our way to the Renwick Art Gallery across from the White House.

The Renwick Art Gallery is fabulous.  I am not the artsy, fartsy type, but this place was very interesting.  It had such unique art in every room.  It is rather small compared to some art galleries, so it was quick and easy to go through in about two hours.  It might have been less.  You artsy folks may take much longer.

These are photos of some of the more interesting art we saw.

We really had a great time discovering the art and talking about it.   Every art installation was huge!  Really impressive!  If you’re in Washington, D.C.. I highly recommend visiting there.

Thanks for reading.  If you have any questions, let me know, I’d be happy to chat with you!

Checking the weight of my pack it was 10 pounds.  Manageable?  Sure!  My adrenaline was flowing fast and I was so excited to be hiking a little, tiny part of the North Country Scenic Trail/Finger Lakes Trail/Conservation Trail/etc, etc….  this trail had soo many names!  I guess it never occurred to me that trails often overlap each other.  I drove to my friend, Shelly’s house and we set off together to Allegany State Park.

We met up with a group of people from Hiking Adventures and that is when my nerves set in.  I never have hiked a real hike before. My head felt prepared, but I was afraid my legs weren’t.  The hike leader said the trail was 5.6 miles.  I quickly removed about 3 pounds from my pack and threw it all in my backseat!  I have never hiked a mountain that far before.  Flat trails, yes.  Not up a mountain. Technically, it may have been a hill, but it sure looked like a mountain!

The group started up the hill very quickly with me falling behind just as quickly.  Lucky for me, my friend, Shelly hiked with me and other people waited and chatted with us while I caught my breath.  The group stopped for a snack (to wait for me to catch up).  When I had two bites of my snack, the rest of them moved on.  My head had so many thoughts going through it – this isn’t for me, why don’t I do this for a living, I don’t like hiking, I love hiking, I wish I could do this forever, my legs are wobbly, I feel strong.  I knew one thing, I had to keep to going!  BECAUSE – my car was as the starting point and I needed a ride back to where I parked!  I knew they wouldn’t leave me, but it was funny thinking about it.

My friend, Shelly is the most optimistic, positive person I know.  She made this hike so much fun. She sang songs, while I was just trying to breathe.  She talked about all the times she almost died on her wild adventures.  She once mountain biked on an Extreme trail and almost fell to her death!  She nearly was sucked up in muddy pond, luckily, she was wearing her flotation device and she didn’t sink all the way under.  Two huge men had to pull her up out of it!  She said it made a giant “POP” sucking sound when she finally got out!   She’s a daredevil!

Before I knew it we had arrived at the highest part of trail and Shelly reminded me to look at the ridge-line.  It was amazing!  Seeing the tops of the trees and the nearby mountaintops was incredible!!  I can’t even describe it!

We caught up with the rest of group and stopped for lunch at a lean to, enjoying each other’s company for a little bit.  I actually peed in the woods for the first time in a long time!  A little cool air on my behind felt so GOOD!  I’m going to do that more often.  I need the practice.

The lean to was really neat for me to see.  I never saw one in person before and I must say, I was pretty stoked.  There were extra pots hanging, tarps hidden in the rafters for anyone to use that might need them and a little notebook that served as a log book.  Shelly and I read through some of the entries in the log book and they were FUNNY!  “Out of Beer, send more, ” was one of my favorites.

We had a nice rest and I grabbed my hiking pole and set off for the rest of the trail.  It wasn’t all down hill from here, there was at least one more up, but I kept my head down and focused on the next two feet in front of me.  Near the end of the trail a very nice person created  a set of stairs to climb down that led to a meadow of sorts.  At this point I was so excited to be done, and so sad to be done.  This may have been my first up hill hike, but it won’t be my last.

I arrived home in the early afternoon and I couldn’t keep still. My muscles wanted me to keep moving.  My dogs, Royal and Maggie, played with me outside until I finally collapsed on the grass in my backyard, my dogs licking my face.  Adrenaline worn off, I knew I would sleep good that night!

My boots have been broken in!  My tall, fancy work boots that is!   I found a new favorite hiking area called Tillman Wildlife Management Area.  The day I found the park was rainy and windy.

I wasn’t wearing my hiking boots.  I was wearing my work clothes! My hiking clothes and boots were left at home in a pile that I was supposed to grab on my way out the door in the morning, but I wasn’t going to NOT go hiking!  So, off I went.  I found Tillman Road, but I wasn’t sure where to park.  I pulled into a what looked like a parking area, but found a State Trooper instead!  He must have thought I was crazy when I approached his vehicle wearing a long skirt, tall boots and light rain jacket.  I asked him where the parking was for the walking trails and he looked throughly amused.  After making my way to parking area the Trooper told me about, I quickly put my hood up and made my way to the trailhead.

Of course I was looking for a geocache while hiking, so I did have a goal.  I slopped through the mud and wished I had wipers for my glasses!  The trail was actually quite beautiful in the rain and I was smiling like a fool when I ran into a man dressed in full rain gear walking his dog.  He said hello and warned me that boardwalk was very slippery.  I thanked him and continued on, watching my step.   I can’t imagine what he thought of a woman in a long skirt out in the rain!  The geocache wasn’t too difficult to find, but I did have to walk in INCHES of water!  I can’t believe my tall, fancy boots kept the water out!  I was fully expecting my feet to be soaked, but they weren’t!

As I made my way back to the main trail I came across some teenagers running in shorts and I am guessing it was their mom I said to hello to, not far behind them.  I slipped a little on an incline, but kept my body upright, thankfully!  Approaching the parking lot I saw the State Trooper truck and the Trooper stuck his head out the window and said, “I wanted to make sure you came out of there okay!”  I laughed and said, I was throughly wet, but I still have a smile on my face!  We laughed and went on our way.

There is something to be said about walking in the rain.  Now I only walked for about a half an hour, but it was refreshing.  It might have been cleansing if I didn’t have MUD up my boots and all around the edges of my skirt!  Still, I’m glad I didn’t let it stop me.  It won’t be able to stop me on the AT either.  Go hike!  Here are a few pictures of Tillman on a nicer day when I was there hiking.

My favorite!

This past weekend I enjoyed the friendship of nearly 100 women.  We all converged upon Grand Island, NY to attend the Wild Women Weekend.  The Weekend offers women the opportunity to try new activities under the watchful eye of trained leaders. Some of the workshops were ziplining, horseback riding, zentangle, archery, tapping into your intuition, embracing your feminine power, self defense, walking in nature, foraging for wild edibles, tai chi, skeet shooting and others.

My workshops were horseback riding, archery, walking in nature and foraging.  I won’t bore you or me with lack luster details of Friday, except to say I was with my girlfriends in a log cabin at a beautiful campground.  We had a campfire, drinks, laughs and just a really great time getting to know each other.

Saturday started very early with me waking at 6:30 am.  Horseback riding was first on my agenda.  Breakfast was in the opposite direction, so I gave my breakfast coupon to my friend and went straight to the stables.  There were about 15 women in our morning ride.  Lucy the white mare was assigned to carry me around the trails for 45 minutes of joy!  Well, Lucy was a follower.  Much like myself.  If the horse in front of me was trotting, so was Lucy.  If the horse in front of me stopped for a bite of grass, so did Lucy.  Luckily, that meant she didn’t wander or do anything to scare me.  She was a solid, happy girl.  I’m glad I went, but my thighs and legs are still sore!

My next adventure was archery.  Cabela’s sponsored this workshop and provided two people to train us ladies on how to properly shoot a crossbow and recurve bow.  I started by shooting the recurve bow.  The young man in charged patiently showed me how to hold my hands, how far to pull it back and guided my aim.  I hit the wood behind the target, the wood next to the target and finally, the TARGET!  After a few more shots I finally shot the middle of the target!  It was a lot of fun and I would love to do that again!  The crossbow was scary to me.  It seemed too powerful and dangerous.  I just wasn’t sure about it.  Then I remembered what this weekend was all about – trying new things!  The young lady in charge showed me how to prime the bow with all the strings and clips.  I’m sure I am not using the correct terms for these things.  Anyway, she encouraged me to look through the scope, aim for the target and when I was comfortable and ready to put my finger on the trigger and shoot.  Well, I hit the target, EXACTLY where I was aiming!  I was stunned how powerful I felt!  What a great experience!

My last two workshops were more subdued, but thoroughly educational.  I walked in nature and learned about foraging.  While walking in nature we identified plants, flowers, trees and wildlife.  We walked on a trail into the woods and it was very peaceful.  The Naturalist was very knowledgeable and patient with all our questions.  I’ll never forget what a New England Aster looks like or a Dogwood shrub (Ruff rrrruuffff) or Buck Thorn tree.  The foraging workshop taught me the many types of plants and trees that we can eat and are easily (or not) found in the wild.  Dandelion, plantain, wood sorrel, to name just a few.  I even chewed on fir tree needles.  They gave me fresh breath!  It was like tasting Christmas!

The overwhelmingly best part of the entire weekend was meeting like minded women.  Women who enjoyed the outdoors, nature and adventure just as much as I do!  I met some great new friends.